Improvement in steam-pumps



JOSEPH C. WIGHTMAN, 0F NEWTON, ASSIGNOR TO CHAS. HOUGHTON,

(TRUSTEE) OF ROXBURY, MASSACHUSETTS. l

|M PRovEM een' IN STEAM-Pula Ps.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. $9,534, dated April 27,1869.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, Josnrn G. WIGHTMAN, of' Newton, in the county ofMiddlesex` and State of Massachusetts, have invented an ImprovedSteam-Pump for Raising Vater; and I do hereby declare th at thefollowing, taken in connection with the drawings which accompany andform part of this specication, is a description ofmy inventionsufficient to enable those skilled in the art to practice it.

The prime object of my invention is the utilization of the heatdeveloped by iires in stoves, ranges, furnaces, or other he( ting ap!paratus, in dwellings and elsewhere, by means of an apparatus operatingautomatically to lift and force water from wells and other sources ofsupply, and transfer it to elevated tanks, from which, by gravity, itwill iiow through service or distributing pipes to sinks, bathtubs,water-closets, dro., located below the watenlevel maintained in theelevated tanks, without the intervention of what may be termedmachinery, such as piston, rotary, or other pumps.

The apparatus in which my invention isl embodied differs from otherapparatus heretofore known and used, in which heat supplies directly,through the medium of steam generated thereby, the power for raisingwater, (and of which Thomas Saverys apparatus, known about the year1700, is one 'example,) in thatmy apparatus Ais automatic in itsoperation so long as heat is applied, and requires no manipula-tion ofvalves or cocks, as did Saverys, and other preceding apparatus for asimilar purpose.

The drawings showin Figure 1 in sectional elevation, and in Fi g. 2 inplan-my improved water-raising apparatus, and `Some modiiicationsthereof.' f

Referring first to that portion of the apparatus shown at the right ofthe sheet of drawings, there may be seen a closed vessel, a,sur1nountedwith a dome, l), the vessel a being provided with a suction-pipe, c,which reaches beneath the surface of the water to be elevated. In anyconvenient location in said pipe is placed a check-valve, d, and thepipe is made to extend nearly to the top of the space inclosed by thedome b. From the bottom of the vessel a is an egress-passage, in whichis a check-valve, e, which permits ilow of the water from chamber a.,through the pipe f, tothe elevated ltank g, which has an overlow orwaste pipe, h, which returns any surplus of water to the well or cisternfrom which pipe c takes its supply, said tank having also aservice-pipe, i, through whi'ch various lavatores and drafts, Ste., aresupplied. In the top of the dome is an opening controlled by the cock j,through which opening the parts beneath can be supplied with water, whenthe apparat-us is first set up, and whenever afterward it is lackingfrom any cause, and through which, after the trst condensation of steamin vessel a, and dome b, and the supply of the vacuum therein, the airbetween the valve d in pipe c, and above the surface of the water in thewell, which enters the apparatus with the iirst water rising from theweil, is expelled by steam iiowing from the generator.

The dome is connected, at a point as near its top as is practicable, bya pipe, k, with a generator of steam, which may be the end of the pipeIc, enlarged, if desired, as seen at l, said end forming the generatoror closed retort or boiler. In the highest part of pipe k is placed auobstruction, m, which is pierced with a.

small hole, a, so that communication between the pipe It and the dome l)and chamber a is at the highest point in the pipe. In dwellings thesteamgenerator is introduced preferably into the fire-pot of the rangeor cooking-stove, or into any combustion-chamher where a fire is usuallykept, or where one can easily be made, if occasional use of theapparatus will answer the necessities of the case.

In the drawings, the steam-generator l is shown as introduced into theirepot of an or dinary cooking-stove. This apparatus operates asfollows: After it is filled with water, and the cock j closed, and heatapplied to the generator l, the water contained in .the generator beginsto be converted into steam, which, rising through the water in pipe k,enters the dome b through aperture n, and displaces the-water trom thedome and vessel a, causing it to How to the tank g, past valve e,through pipe f. The steam, in passing to and into the dome, entersthrough so small a body of water that it soon heats it to its own temperature, andovereomes its condensing power, which it would not do, orwould do with a greater expenditure of time and heat, if passed will beexhausted from the generator, which,

and the pipe it, dome b, and vessel a', will be filled' with steam. Y

Now, as no more steam is supplied, its heat is dissipated by conductionand radiation from the surfaces of a, b, and 7a, until by condensationof the Asteam therein the pressure of the atmosphere in the well causesilow of water from the well up pipe c, and over its top and said water,then acting, as a spray-condenser, rapidly completes the vacuum withina, b, lr, and l.. The vacuum in a and b fills rapidly with water fromthe well, it being, of course, understood that the aperture u is withinthe height at which atmospheric pressure will maintain a column ofwater. Now, as there is also a vacuum in k and l, the water continuesrising from the well to fill it, and as soon as the water reaches thehot surface of the generator l, the first portion of water is convertedinstantly into steam, and shoots back the superincumbent column of waterin the pipe 7c. If this pipe had not therein the obstruction m, thecolumn of water-would be forced back into the dome b, which would simplydisplace its equivalent volume of water and force it out of theoutletpipe f, and, this emptying the I generator of water, the apparatuswould cease to work. But the presence of the diaphragm or obstruction mprevents this, and the Water which is driven upward in pipe 7c is forcedragainst a solid wall, having only a small aperture, n, therein, andthat at the highest point in the conduit. The steam, being lighter thanwater, rises through the water in pipe k, in its eifor'ts to nd anoutlet, and passes lto the aperture n. At .ory about thisv time the cockj should be carefully opened to let the steam expel from the apparatusthe air which entered it with thel first ilow of water from the well,which cock should be shut as soon as steam issues fromit. The steam,proceeding from the generator and holding up the water in pipe k fromfreely entering therein, as it works up through said water into the domeb, soon heats the water in the pipe k, the dome I), and the smallsurface of water therein, so "that the pressure of the steam becomes atthe top of pipe k so nearly equal to the pressure Within the generatorthat the gravity of the column of water in v pipe 7a turns the scale, ormore than makes up the difference of the pressures, and then the columnof water in pipe 7c suddenly drops into the generator, and is convertedinto steam, which rushes through the aperture n. The vwater in the domeand chamber a is expelled, and after a time the steam is condensed asbefore, and the vacuum filled from the well this time, Vand thereafter,without the presence of air, and the operation of again converting waterinto steam, emptying the apparatus, in whole or in part, of water, andiillin g it with steam, and again condensing the steamand iillin g thevacuum with water, goes on continuously, but irregularly, unt-il suchtime as there is no heatapplied to the generator, when condensationtakes place throughout the whole apparatus, and it fills entirely withwater, ready to start automatically on application of heat again to thegenerator, and to continue to work automatically so long as heat isapplied thereto.-

I will now describe some modifications in the arrangement of myapparatus.

A water-heating and circulating apparatus dependent on a head of waterfor its operation is now commonly used in dwellings, the head beingobtained in some large cities and towns from the elevated source ofgeneral supply, and in other places, as in. p rivateA countryresidences, from an elevated tank, into which water is pumped by hand,horse-power, windmills, Snc.

What is commonly known as the boiler of I this last-named apparatus isseen at the left of the sheet of drawings, and is marked o, and isconnected with a water-back or coil, p, located in or fermin g oneboundary of the respace in a cooking stove or range, by means of thecirculating-pipes q and r, through the former of which cool water flowsfrom the bottom of o into p, and, when heated, then rises and flows intoo through pipe fr. The boiler, or, more properly, the tank, o, receivescold water at its bottom fromthe source of supply through pipe s, anddischarges hot water at its top through pipe t. Now, where thisapparatus exists, and where thereis no public supply of water underpressure, it may be well to utilize it by some additions, so as ttransfer it into my improved apparatus, by which it willvinterchangeably performl the fimction of raising water to 'an elevatedtank to supply that which is used and allowed to run to waste, and itsoriginal function of heating and circulating the Water after it israised.

To effect this purpose the four pipes q r s t are provided with cocks u,as shown, so that when the cocks are open the tank o will perform itsfunction as a simple heater and circulator; but when the cocks areclosed the tank o will be merely 'a closed vessel, corresponding to thevessel a, to which I add pipes c, f, and k, and valves d and e, theseserving the same functions as before described.

A special dome might be attached to the top of tank o, into which theend of the pipe c in tank o might enter, as in the firstde scribedexample; but where such dome is not used it answers nearly as well tobend the pipe 7c, as'seen in connection with tank o, the obstruction mand aperture a therein being at the highest position in pipe k, as seen.The pipe lc, which connects with tank o, also con- 89,534 I l s nectswith the regular Water-back p, the connection being made between theWater-back and thecoek whichy controls the pipe lr. When the cocks n areclosed, the operation u vof the tank o, in connection with the Waterbackp, and the pipes k, c, and f, and the valves e and d, will be like thatof the apparatus seen at the right of the sheet of drawings, and beforedescribed, while,wl 1en the cocks nare open, circulation will bevresumed through pipes s, q,V r, and t, and .the pipes c, f, and k, andthe valves e and d will be simply inoperative.

Instead of using a special generator, l, for the apparatus used solelyfor raisin g Water, as shown at the right of the sheet of drawings,thepipe 7c might, as shown, lead to an ordinary coil or water-back, usedin connection with the ordinary Water heating and circulating apparatus,in which case cocks 'n' would be introduced into the circulating-pipes qand r, which, when closed, would cause theapparatus, connected by thepipe shown, to operate to raise water, and when open would cause it tocease such operation, and would allow` the circulation to be resumedthrough the pipes g and fr.

1. The apparatus, substantially as herein first described, for raisingand forcing Water, substantially as set forth.

2. The construction of the main Water and steam chamber a -with a domeor supplemental chamber,b, substantially as shown and described. 3. Theplug or obstruction m', when pierced with the aperture n, and arrangedinthe pipe k, to operate substantially as described.

4. The arrangement of the `pipes c, f, and k,

valves e d, and cocks u with the common Water-back or coil, and itsconnected tank and pipes, substantially as described.

1 JOSEPH C. WIJGHTMAN. Witnesses:

FRANCIS GoULD, S: B. KIDDER.

